Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. (LON:BC94) (KRX:005930) is looking forward to the double sales of its smartphones in Africa by fiscal 2014, according to an executive.
Speaking at a conference in Cape Town late on Tuesday, Thabiet Allie, head of content and services for Samsung Electronics Africa told “Samsung this year will ship 50 percent of all the smartphones in Africa.”
Samsung relatively new in the region
Unlike other geographies where Samsung is roaring and garnering highest market share, it is relatively new in Africa. In 2012, sub Saharan smartphone penetration was about 4% compared to the global average of 17%, as per the data from industry body GSMA.
This year around 100 million phones have been sold in Africa out of which 20 million are smartphones, and marginally over half of them are made by Samsung according to Thabiet Allie.
The executive said that next year the company is looking forward to sell two times the current sales, and will increase the number substantially in the coming years.
African market booming
In Africa, young population is swelling with a majority of them inclined towards technology, and are urbanized, which is alluring the foreign companies to sell their products like smartphones, market for which is on the verge of saturation in the developed economies, reports Reuters.
According to GSMA, smartphones will contribute 20% of the African market by 2017 with the advent of devices below $50. In South Africa, smartphone usage is above the global average, and BlackBerry holds the maximum share.
One of the companies in South Africa will assemble $260 smartphone for the African market in 2014.
Samsung outpaces Nokia
Globally Samsung has attained number one position by selling most number of handsets in the third quarter in all six continents including North America, Western Europe, Asia Pacific, Latin America and Eastern Europe, as well as Middle East and Africa leaving behind Nokia for the first time.
For the third quarter, the company sold 120.1 million mobile phones worldwide garnering 28.6% of the market share.
In Middle East and Africa, Samsung outpaced Nokia by selling 15.8 million mobile phones, whereas Nokia sold 14.7 million sales. Samsung’s market share in the region climbed 36.4% from 24.4% last year.
